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KARACHI, March 15: Having lost its major sponsors, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has run into a financial crisis. The PCB has been forced to take upon itself the responsibility of sponsoring the prestigious National One-day Championship.

The cricket board has renamed the Wills National One-day Championship as President's Cup. According to the draws made available, it has not been mentioned if it was a fresh tournament or the continuation of the previous events (17 events have so far been held).

According to information made available, Pakistan Tobacco Company (PTC), sponsors of cricket in Pakistan for the last 19 years, terminated their association on Dec 31, 1998. Before ending the contract, the PTC had served a three-month noticeon the PCB.

Board officials, however, continued to maintain on Monday that PTC were legally bound to sponsor cricket till 2000. ``They cannot back out,'' they stressed, adding: ``We will have to refer the case to our legal advisor.''

The end of of relations between the PTC and the PCB has incurred an annual estimated loss of Rs 50 million to the cricket board. Sources in the board said so far no multi-national company has come forward to help the cricket board from getting bankrupt which looks inevitable if nothing happens during the next two months.

Informed sources said the cricket board at present has only given the National One-day Cup a name. ``No other financial matters, including the cash awards, have been finalized,'' sources said.

Sources in the PTC stated that before terminating the contract, PCB chairman Khalid Mahmood had been briefed in detail. ``We were not happy with certain things. We had been given an indirect message that the PCB wanted a change and for that purpose they (PTC) were promoting our rivals.''

The Chairman of the Domestic Tournament Monitoring Committee (DTMC), Prof Sirajul Islam Bukhari, who circulated the draws of the renamed National One-day Championship, said the event was named as President's Cup on the instructions of the cricket board.

``We gave the name (President's Cup) as per instructions of the PCB. The secretary (of the PCB) gave us the name,'' Bukhari said.

When Majid Khan was contacted in Lahore, he refused to comment.

The DTMC chief said there was a possibility that no cash award may be given to the winners of the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy because of the lack of sponsors. However, he hoped that the cricket board would compensate the winners. ``Patron's Trophy winners got the cash reward because the event ended before Dec 31,'' he remarked.

Reverting to the draws of the President's Cup, Quetta and Multan, the non first-class teams, have been included in the 23-team field. DTMC boss Prof Bukhari said Multan had been pressurizing his body to retain them in the Quaid-i-Azam. ``They had filed an appeal in the board not to relegate them to Grade-II event. The DTMC relegated Multan but considering that a lot of talent was emerging from Multan, the city was allowed to participate in the One-day competition.''

Multan lost the Grade-II Quaid-i-Azam Trophy final to Lahore Division Cricket Association (LDCA) who should consider themselves unlucky to not play in the One-day tournament.

Quetta, who failed to even make to the semi-finals of the Quaid-i-Azam trophy Grade-II, have been included because there was no representation from the Balochistan province, Prof Bukhari explained.

The 23 teams, 13 associations, nine departments and Bangladesh, have been divided into four pools.

The Groups are:

POOL A: Karachi Whites, Bangladesh, PNSC, Customs, Hyderabad and Quetta

POOL B: Lahore, Bahawalpur, Gujranwala, NBP, HBL and Multan

POOL C: Faisalabad, Karachi Blues, ABL, ADBP and Sargodha

POOL D: Rawalpindi, Islamabad, KRL, PIA, Peshawar and WAPDA.

The top two teams from each pool will qualify for the second round.

The schedule is:

POOL A

APRIL 4: Karachi Whites v Bangladesh XI at National Stadium, Karachi; PNSC v Pakistan Customs at UBL Sports Complex, Karachi; Hyderabad v Quetta at Niaz Stadium, Hyderabad.

APRIL 6: Pakistan Customs v Bangladesh XI at National Stadium, Karachi; Karachi Whites v Quetta at UBL Sports Complex, Karachi; Hyderabad v PNSC at Niaz Stadium, Hyderabad;

APRIL 8: Karachi Whites v Hyderabad at UBL Sports Complex, Karachi; PNSC v Bangladesh XI at National Stadium, Karachi; Pakistan Customs v Quetta at Defence Stadium, Karachi;

APRIL 10: Hyderabad v Pakistan Customs at Niaz Stadium, Hyderabad; Karachi Whites v PNSC at UBL Sports Complex, Karachi; Quetta v Bangladesh XI at National Stadium, Karachi.

APRIL 12: Karachi Whites v Pakistan Customs at National Stadium, Karachi; PNSC v Quetta at Defence Stadium, Karachi; Hyderabad v Bangladesh XI at Makli Cricket Stadium, Thatta.

POOL B

APRIL 4: Lahore City v Bahawalpur at LCCA Ground, Lahore; Gujranwala v National Bank at Jinnah Stadium, Gujranwala; Habib Bank v Multan at Jinnah Stadium, Sialkot.

APRIL 6: Lahore City v Gujranwala at LCCA Ground, Lahore; Habib Bank v National Bank at Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore; Bahawalpur v Multan at Jinnah Stadium, Sialkot.

APRIL 8: Lahore City v Multan at LCCA Ground, Lahore; Gujranwala v Habib Bank at Jinnah Stadium, Gujranwala; National Bank v Bahawalpur at Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore;

APRIL 10: Lahore City v Habib Bank at LCCA Ground, Lahore; National Bank v Multan at Jinnah Stadium, Sialkot; Gujranwala v Bahawalpur at Jinnah Stadium, Gujranwala.

APRIL 12: Lahore City v National Bank at LCCA Ground, Lahore; Habib Bank v Bahawalpur at Jinnah Stadium, Sialkot; Gujranwala v Multan at Jinnah Stadium, Gujranwala.

POOL C

APRIL 4: Faisalabad v Karachi Blues at Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad; Allied Bank v ADBP at Sheikhupura Stadium, Sheikhupura;

APRIL 6: Karachi Blues v Allied Bank at Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad; ADBP v Sargodha at Sheikhupura Stadium, Sheikhupura;

APRIL 8: Sargodha v Karachi Blues at Sheikhupura Stadium, Sheikhupura. Faisalabad v Allied Bank at Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad.

APRIL 10: Karachi Blues v ADBP at Sheikhupura Stadium, Sheikhupura; Faisalabad v Sargodha at Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad;

APRIL 12: Allied Bank v Sargodha at Sheikhupura Stadium, Sheikhupura; Faisalabad v ADBP at Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad.

POOL D

APRIL 4: Rawalpindi v Islamabad at KRL Stadium, Rawalpindi; KRL v PIA at Pindi Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi; Peshawar v WAPDA at Arbab Niaz Stadium, Peshawar;

APRIL 6: Islamabad v PIA at KRL Stadium, Rawalpindi; KRL v WAPDA at Pindi Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi; Peshawar v Rawalpindi at Arbab Niaz Stadium, Peshawar.

APRIL 8: Peshawar v PIA at Arbab Niaz Stadium, Peshawar; KRL v Islamabad at KRL Stadium, Rawalpindi; Rawalpindi v WAPDA at Pindi Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi.

APRIL 10: Peshawar v Islamabad at Arbab Niaz Stadium, Peshawar; KRL v Rawalpindi at KRL Stadium, Rawalpindi; PIA v WAPDA at Pindi Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi.

APRIL 12: Peshawar v KRL at Arbab Niaz Stadium, Peshawar; Islamabad v WAPDA at KRL Stadium, Rawalpindi; Rawalpindi v PIA at Pindi Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi.

FINAL ROUNDS

APRIL 15: A-2 v B-1 at National Stadium, Karachi; C-2 v D-1 at UBL Sports Complex, Karachi; A-1 v B-2 at Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad; C-1 v D-2 at Sheikhupura Stadium, Sheikhupura.

APRIL 17: A-2 v C-2 at National Stadium, Karachi; B-1 v D-1 at UBL Sports Complex, Karachi; A-1 v C-1 at Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad. B-2 v D-2 at Sheikhupura Stadium, Sheikhupura.

APRIL 19: B-1 v C-2 at National Stadium, Karachi; A-2 v D-1 at UBL Sports Complex, Karachi; B-2 v C-1 at Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad; A-1 v D-2 at Sheikhupura Stadium, Sheikhupura.

SEMI-FINALS

APRIL 22: Day/night match at Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore. (Umpires: Salim Badar and Siddique Khan. TV umpire: Rab Nawaz. Match referee: Ali Zia.)

APRIL 23: Day/night match at Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore. (Umpires: Riazuddin and Mian Aslam. TV umpire: Iftikhar Malik. Match referee: Naseer Malik.)

FINAL

APRIL 25: Day/night match at Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore. (Umpires: Athar Zaidi and Feroz Butt. TV umpire: Ikram Rabbani. Match referee: Ashraf Ali).